A new play that examines the impact of war, politics, economic growth and the vision of three significant Australian writers on three generations of a Bathurst family will premiere in Bathurst on Thursday 23 October. ‘Asparagus’ is written by Mr Ray Harding, a theatre/media lecturer at the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication, with assistance from another CSU lecturer, historian Dr Robin McLachlan, from the School of Social Sciences and Liberal Studies. The play’s author said, “Coming to Bathurst has been an object lesson for me in what the play’s director, Bill Blaikie, a former CSU theatre/media lecturer, calls 'looking for the poetry beneath our own feet'. There is a wealth of fascinating stories laden with dramatic possibilities here which we have only just begun to mine." The Bathurst Theatre Company production of ‘Asparagus’ will be performed at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre from Thursday 23 to Saturday 25 October, starting at 8pm.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) will stage a range of activities sponsored by its Bathurst Campus Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Committee to mark Safe Work Australia Week (19-25 October). CSU OH&S Committee spokesperson, Ms Carissa Michel, said that work-related injury, illness and death can be prevented through the adoption of safer work practices. “Safety is everybody’s business, and as part of the national workplace safety awareness week we encourage all Charles Sturt University staff and students to concentrate on safety to reduce workplace death, injury and disease. The focus of activities on the Bathurst Campus will be a free sausage sizzle on the library lawn from 12 noon until 2pm on Wednesday 22 October, with various safety activities, giveaways and work safety information available. We also urge all staff to complete their OH&S Workplace Inspection or Safety Management Plan, to meet with their Campus OH&S Committee members, and for all staff and students to report any hazards they identify,” Ms Michel said.

A Charles Sturt University (CSU) journalism student has won an award from the Australian Press Council (APC) for ‘outstanding achievement in a subject related to the objects of the Council’. Lecturer in journalism at the CSU School of Communication, Mr Chris McGillion, said that what makes Ms Stephanie Boulet’s APC Prize unusual is that she is a third-year broadcast student, not a print student. “Stephanie was nominated by journalism staff at the School of Communication on the basis of her outstanding academic transcripts and an essay she wrote concerning the ethics of covering Aboriginal issues,” Mr McGillion said. “The Press Council accepted my recommendation even though she is a broadcast major because of the importance of ethics and journalism. This award to a broadcast student demonstrates, in a sense, the APC's appreciation of the continuing merging of traditional print and broadcast media, and how ethical journalism underpins both." Ms Boulet, who is from Castle Hill in Sydney, will be presented with a certificate and a cheque for $300 from the APC by Head of the School of Communication, Mr Rod McCulloch, on Tuesday 21 October.

As the start of the Charles Sturt University (CSU) dental and oral health courses approach in February 2009, the University has added the international experience of Professor David Wilson to its teaching staff. Professor Wilson is a professor in dentistry and health science (oral and maxillofacial pathology). He has joined CSU at Orange from the International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Professor Wilson has also worked in Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and has about 30 years undergraduate and postgraduate teaching experience in oral pathology. He maintains ongoing clinical practice and research into specialist diagnostic oral histopathology. His research interests include oral cancer, oral diseases and forensic odontology.  The new courses offered through the CSU School of Dentistry and Health Sciences  in 2009 include the Bachelor of Dental Science and a Bachelor of Oral Health in Dental Therapy/Dental Hygiene.

An administrator from Charles Sturt University in Ontario, Canada, is visiting Australia to meet staff at the University to gain a better understanding of its systems, procedures and operational requirements. Mrs Jan Cahusac, an administrative officer who supports staff and the Head of School at the CSU Ontario School of Education, is spending 16 days in Australia and will divide her time between CSU at Bathurst and at Wagga Wagga. “This is my first visit to Australia and it’s fabulous,” Mrs Cahusac said. “I started at Charles Sturt University in Ontario when it began and it is wonderful to at last meet face-to-face with Faculty of Education colleagues here with whom I’ve been communicating by email for the last three years. I’m gaining many insights into how the University operates and how I can better integrate our work.” In 2008, there are 203 students studying the Bachelor of Primary Education Studies at the CSU Ontario School of Education at Burlington, Ontario.

Four graduates from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Communication  received awards in three categories at the 2008 Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs), which were presented at the Gold Coast on Saturday 11 October. Award winners Ms Katrina Brown, Mr Christopher Baskerville, and Mr Cameron Williams are graduates of the Bachelor of Arts (Commercial Radio), while Ms Josie Hand graduated from the Bachelor of Arts (Communication - Public Relations and Organisational Communication) course. Mr Michael Thompson, a 2007 CSU journalism graduate who now works at 2GB in Sydney, won the award for Best Show Producer in the Talk and Current Affairs category. He previously won the 2007 award for the Best Newcomer Off Air. Ms Laura Tunstall, a 2005 CSU journalism graduate who also works at 2GB won the prestigious 2008 Brian White Memorial Award. Mr Baskerville, who is currently Production Manager and Drive Announcer with Bathurst Broadcasters (2BS), said "It's fantastic to have been nominated for an award and even better to win. I'm just lucky to have had the excellent facilities and training at Charles Sturt University so I can compete with the best in the radio industry." Course coordinator for the CSU commercial radio course, Mr Brett Van Heekeren, said “The awards demonstrate that Charles Sturt University gives our graduates the range of skills and expertise that allows them to succeed in their industry.”

The ‘Reclaim the Night’ march in Bathurst on Thursday 30 October will affirm the right for women everywhere to live in freedom from discrimination and fear of violence. One of the march organisers, Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education at Bathurst, Associate Professor Jo-Anne Reid, said she expected strong support for the march by women students and staff members from the University. “We have had outstanding support by staff and students from CSU faculties, divisions and services for sponsorship and action, and we look forward to an impressive turn-out on the night. The aim of this year's march is to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Reclaim the Night, and for women, men and children of the Bathurst community to come together to peacefully protest against sexual violence towards women and children, and to promote women’s strength and survival.”

A national award promoting religious harmony and acceptance within Australian society has been bestowed on Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in theology, Associate Professor Clive Pearson. The principal of the United Theological College (UTC) in Sydney, within the CSU School of Theology, received an Australian Affinity Award in September. The award recognised Professor Pearson’s significant contributions in the study of religion, interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and the ‘facilitating' by CSU in this dialogue. Associate Professor Pearson was particularly recognised for his work on the public theology of issues of diversity in Sydney, including analysis of the riots in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla in December 2005. “The United Theological College has been working with Affinity and Sydney’s Islamic community firstly out of concern for the neighbour, for the stranger in our midst and a concern for social cohesion,” said Associate Professor Pearson. “We have attended and presented at each other's conferences because we believe that it is important for a Christian theology to be done these days in the presence of the religious other as well as the secular.”

Three new books from human movement studies lecturers at Charles Sturt University (CSU) will be launched at the Bathurst Campus on Wednesday 29 October. The books provide insights into the way the human body deals with its heating during exercise and exertion; the personal and cultural meanings of participating in competitive sports in later life; and the way young women view and respond to their bodies, health and physical activity. Head of the School of Human Movement Studies, Associate Professor Frank Marino, said “The significance of these books is that the School of Human Movement Studies believes in being a player in creating knowledge rather than a passive user. It shows to our students that we in the School are at the forefront of research and scholarship, so they should have every confidence that the curriculum they are a part of is cutting edge.”